THE PLACE: A cottage with a palatial air (for instance, it has a circular staircase and a turreted tower), tucked in its own little cove on Georgian Bay.

BRAGGING RIGHTS: The main point of having a cottage is getting away from it all to relax in quiet solitude. Usually, that means the outdoors, but in this place, you can also hole up in one of two private oak-shelved libraries.

BIG SELLING POINT: Just because the thermometer is dropping doesn’t mean a vacation property has to lie dormant. A glance at the bar-worthy, well, bar, and it’s obvious people could still enjoy themselves up here in the dead of winter.

POSSIBLE DEAL BREAKER: If you’re the kind of person whose favourite books are of the comic variety, you might struggle to fill all those bookshelves—there are only so many knickknacks and curios out there.